The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life

by Lorie Marrero

Now a Wall Street Journal bestselling ebook!

Get your house in shape! Applying just an ounce of the advice in this practical guide saves you enough time and money to pay for itself. You will

The actual scientific law of nature that helps you get organized
The cure for procrastination
Ten types of High Calorie Clutter to avoid
Where to start and how to tackle your projects
How to successfully add new habits into your life

Praise for The Clutter
'As a successful organizing coach, I immediately related with Lorie's motivational concepts in The Clutter Diet. Applying these principles can change your life!' --Dorothy Breininger, President of Delphi Center for Organization, Dr. Phil Show expert and author of Chicken Soup for the Life Lessons for Organizing and Balancing Your World

'What an exciting book! Getting organized has never been so easy. Lorie provides great real-life tips and advice that anyone can implement. You'll walk away with everything you need to know to get and stay organized.' --Jim Deitzel, Rubbermaid, eMarketing Manager

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, How To

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 24, 2008

Reviews

[moxieBK · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life -- Lorie Marrero (Five Sections; 34 unmarked chapters)


I have always enjoyed reading "de-clutter books." I can usually find something to add to my cleaning shortcuts. This book however, actually didn't add much to what I already know. In fact, some of the things I read, I had thought were my original ideas! (That should be further proof to me that there truly are no original ideas.)

However, if a reader was new to clutter "diets," (incidentally, I loathe that word,) this is a perfect book to start with. It was very much like a fitness or lifestyle change book. Since I am very familiar with those books, I found this book easy to read and mostly encouraging.

The downside is that at times I felt like I was reading an infomercial, especially when the author plugged her pay-to-use internet mentoring service. However, there are several golden nuggets in this book to help most people start de-junking their spaces. Like another book that I was reading concurrently with this one, the book looks at the whole lifestyle approach to cleaning. Meaning, to really become uncluttered in your spaces, it takes a fundamental change to truly reap the benefits of keeping efficient order in one's life. Another thing I disliked was the idea of having a cleaning buddy to keep encouraging you in cleaning. The author made it sound like this was very important to maintain, and failure if you did not. This is like having a fitness buddy; but that never works for me when I'm exercising; I can't seeing it work for me in this situation either. Finally, be forewarned: some of the links she references are no longer active. (Even though these are links to her own blog and/or pages.)

This was an enjoyable enough read. Some information/ideas supplied here did not apply to me, and I skipped those. I didn't learn much new info, but what I did were golden nuggets. This book would definitely be a lifesaver for newbies, but may be a bit overwhelming. I found myself skipping parts where family members were involved. (I am a single woman, with an adult son.) But families with school aged children might find those sections very helpful. The basic idea for the book is this: do a little every day; clean as you go; and the clutter will eventually disappear.

Three stars.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this book caught my eye. Probably since I had just returned from the third 5 hour trip to help move my mom to an Independent Living apartment. We had gone through every drawer, cabinet and closet in her 3BR, 2 B house. As I drove home, all that went through my mind is, I will not leave that chore for my own children! I grabbed this book, which is somewhat out dated (2009) and read it cover to cover. Yes, I knew lots of the common sense ideas, but it helped organize my thoughts and gave me a plan. Now where is my trash can!

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book.

I highlighted so many things I want to blog/ instagram about to talk some more :)

It is probably much more useful to a normal person, not someone who already blogs about organising, because I found myself skimming a lot of the how-to for each space. I could see how this would be helpful to the average person trying to organise their home or life.

[Amelia Painter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found "The Clutter Diet" to be an excellent resource for anyone serious about getting their home organized. The title says it all from the beginning, after all, in order for any diet to work the individual must 1)be determined, 2)be motivated, 3)have support, and 4)be somewhat educated on the topic. (The author actually quotes motivation, education and support, but in my opinion she does include determination at the end of each chapter with her "clutter fitness exercises.")

Lorie Marrero's book can make a difference to the reader that sincerely wants to get to the root cause of their clutter issues and put a system into place that actually works.

So how does the author help the reader accomplish their goal of becoming an organized person? I believe the best formula is found on page 141 when the author identifies three different types of organizing:

1) Planning
2) Projects and
3) Systems & Routines

These three types of organizing could also be called 3 steps: 1)eliminate via planning, 2)categorize via specific area of home, and 3)organize via a foundation of home organization.

I'm especially fond of the author's "Just D.E.W. it" recommendation.
D = "Dishes:Is the dishwasher ready for receiving new dishes today?"
E = "Eating:What are you going to eat today?"
W = "Wash:What is the status of laundry?"

There isn't an area of daily living forgotten in this book. Here are a few more areas of home life the book tackles:

-all rooms of a home, including: the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc.
-additionally, the book covers financial and administrative tasks, laundry and how to divide up tasks, what kids can do to help, the definition of success, ingredients for success, and much more.

The book's final chapter on "Balancing It All" and the last section titled "Room by Room Recipes" is where all the advice and tips come together. You might even say these are the most informational and resourceful pages in the book -- I know I will be referring back to several of the pages as my husband and I ready our vacation rental for the season.

The only reader's tool missing from this terrific organizational book is an index. But, now that I think about it, maybe an index really isn't needed. After all, it is a very well organized and orderly book!

[Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very informative. I will be going back and referring to it when I go to do some of the clutter diet steps. I really like the idea of the 3 ring binder with clear sheets to put all your things in that you'd have by your frig or on your frig. I have limited space now that we can't hang things on the front of our frig so this will come in handy! I also like the filing ideas in the book. I have a hard time in this area since my files are in a totally different area of the house. I'm pretty neat and orgazined but for those who are not this is an excellent book to refer too. I learned many other things that I didn't know as I was reading this book.

[Dara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I'm already pretty organized this wasn't as useful for me as it might be for someone else. That said it did give me a few ideas for new ways to deal with inevitable clutter.
Also, she talks so much about basements, garages, attics, laundry rooms, etc. Clearly not written for someone living in an apartment! Much of my clutter is the direct result of very little space. I need a version of this written by a New Yorker!

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. Another declutter book for me. I did take some notes on some websites I could use at a later time. I always have to take a look at the newest clutter book, but what it comes down to is you just have to start doing it one little bit at a time. Get rid of the stuff you haven't used in over a year. Simple as that. Now to get the motivation. Oh, and by the way, the book does talk about motivation.

[Lurdes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clutter diets are like food diets -- you already know what you're supposed to do (it's just common sense, after all), but finding the right method is all it takes to see some big changes. While Marrero's book had no earth-shattering insights, it was a nice refresher. Favorite line: "You're about to start your first project, so don't make the most common mistake ... going hog wild in the Container Store." Ouch, been there.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some useful tips, like websites for specific things (garage storage organization, how long to keep papers)

A few interesting ideas; may be good to look at again while actually involved in an organizing project. And maybe take notes next time, instead of just looking at it while on break...

[LemontreeLime · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good ideas, but not what i was hoping for.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the comparison of organizing to being on a diet. Maybe some of her tips will actually help me de-clutter!

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have re-checked this book out again from our library ~ I have found it very helpful and motivating!

[Heather Alkire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought this book had some good concepts..

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like it. The workbook come with it helps to mind to process and take action.

[Kasey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book helped me really identify reasons why I have clutter. I absolutely hate the clutter and now feel empowered to do something about it.

[Jo Armstead]

Reading with my daughter in law...=)

[Nancy Tuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Very helpful advice!

[Relyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, not much that's new here. When you read magazines as much as I do - these books have to work much harder to be fresh and original.

[Bookwyrmgyrl]

I like Lorie Marrero's online video clips much better than the book, but it was still useful and interesting.

[Darinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful advice on decluttering. Good motivation for organizing and simplifying.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to follow but not too helpful for me.

[Donna Sako · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

A bit overwhelming. Good ideas but I got exhausted by the end of the book. It made de-cluttering even harder to start.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book, has really motivated me to begin de cluttering home!

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Other than the fact that my book had four two sided blank pages in the middle of two chapters (two blank two sided pages in two different chapters), I thought it was a very good book. It didn't go into as much detail as I would have liked but it did have a lot of good suggestions plus places to search for the different items for those suggestions.

I'm going to go through it again with my highlighter handy to mark some of the better suggestions and my laptop to check out several of the recommended websites.